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schliz writes "Australia's UBank has put a billion real-world transaction records behind a website that allows users to compare their spending habits with others of the same gender, in the same age/income range, neighborhood and living situation. The 'PeopleLikeU' tool surfaces favorite shops and restaurants surprisingly accurately — because it's based on real customers' transactions, it lists places like good takeout joints that wouldn't normally come to mind when you think of a favorite place to eat. The bank says all data was 'deidentified' and it consulted with privacy authorities."

It's been about 5 or 6 months since I switched to using predominantly cash. Yes, it's a little less convenient in some contexts (though sit-down restaurants are faster, just leaving money on the table instead of waiting for a receipt to sign), but I simply do not want to be 100% tracked like this.

Wow, try switching to a not-complete-shit bank / credit provider. My bank has twice over the last 7 years put a temporary hold on my account after I bout something I don't usually buy in a location I don't usually buy things. One other time it probably would have, but I proactively called ahead and told them that I was going there on vacation, so there was no problem.

Also, they call me, not the other way around, and getting it resolved took about 10 minutes. The list of suspect purchases was short and reasonable, and definitely not things that I had a history of buying.

Your bank is crap. Time to vote with your wallet rather than complaining about it on a tech forum.